The Bat-Family: Teacup Kids
by SilentMinority
Summary: Sequel to "Bat-Family: Love Hurts." Barbara Gordon arrives at Wayne Manor to find her Bat-companions turned into small children. The team must come together before their minds regress for good, as strange monsters turn the halls of the mansion into a bizarre wonderland.
1. Issue 7: Sweet Dreams

The Wiggle Room was a new club in Gotham City. Thumping music. Dancing bodies. Flowing alcohol. None of it could distract Barbara Gordon out of her aching body. Still, she tried to keep up a nice face. The girls were out celebrating Kate Kane's recent engagement. Barbara could see them on the dance floor from the lounge area. The pale girl with the red pixie cut having fun and playfully grinding on Helena Bertinelli. The Italian girl already thinking about going to church in the morning, hangover be damned. And then there was the vivacious Dinah Lance. The mane of blonde hair and fishnet stockings would have been a dead giveaway had Black Canary not already become a fashion icon many tried to emulate.

It had been a week since Dick Grayson had disrupted her life. [Read "Batfamily: Love Hurts"] A crazy adventure. A cocky smile. And he left her thinking maybe they could work out this time. Or crash and burn again. No, he probably wasn't thinking of her at all. Thus was the cycle of Barbara's neurotic brain. She was broken out of it momentarily when her friends stumbled back to the lounge.

"This is fun," Kate cheered. "Who's getting engaged next?"

"You know Ollie," Dinah slurred. "He'll get old enough and realize his arrow comes up a little short."

"What does that even mean?" Helena asked.

Barbara spoke up. "You know we don't have to wait for another engagement to hang out like this."

"That's the most single thing you've ever said," Kate teased.

"Well . . ." Helena added.

Dinah slammed her fist on the table. "How's the Dick situation going?!"

"Fine."

"I knew you'd say that," Kate said.

There wasn't much left to their engagement party. They left The Wiggle Room at close to 2 in the morning. Barbara made sure the girls all got home safe in their various drunken states. Having no other objective to accomplish, she found herself restless, trapped with her own thoughts. She didn't have work in the morning, otherwise she would've never gone to the club. So she decided to head to the Batcave.

Batgirl always kept a spare costume in her Wayne Manor room. She didn't know if she wanted to suit up and go on half a night's patrol, or just hang out. Bruce probably wasn't there taking it easy, if he wasn't furiously investigating something or bleeding out in surgery. But Steph and Cass might be there. Damian. Jason. Or even Dick. She parked her motorcycle outside the main door and scanned her retinal scans and fingerprints to gain entry.

"Hello?"

The mansion seemed empty, but the lights were on. It was possible that Alfred was down in the cave, but he could've had the night off. Still, there's was usually someone to acknowledge an entrance to Wayne Manor, even if it was just a voice over the intercom, available in every room. Curious.

Barbara was walking down a hall when she heard the faint sound of crying. A child. She wondered if it someone was in their room watching a movie or something. She turned a corner and saw a child standing there. Back to her. A boy, she thought. No older than 8 or 9. A chin length mop of black hair. Barefoot in a knee length t-shirt.

"Hey," she said nicely to the little boy. "My name's Barbara. What's your name?"

The boy turned around. With tears in his eyes and a trembling voice he said, "Timothy."

Tim? Barbara used her detective skills. Tim Drake was most certainly 20 years old. He had always had a boyish face. And as sure as can be, this boy standing before her had that same exact face.

"Are you . . . Timothy Jackson Drake?"

The boy nodded, sniffling. "Where's my mommy?"

Barbara sighed. Surely this must be a bad dream. Or she was more buzzed than she thought. She reached out her hand and said, "I'm going to help you, okay?"

She immediately started thinking about what villain may be plotting against her senses. Clayface? She kept in the back of her mind that she might have to spring into action should this young boy morph into a giant monster. But even Basil Karlo wasn't this good an actor. This was a genuinely traumatized child. Maybe this was Scarecrow's fear gas producing an emotionally gruesome sight in her mind to lower her guard. Still, she decided to head to the kitchen to find Timothy a snack.

Outside the dining room, she could hear noises. Children. She entered and the night grew even stranger. Two 10 year old boys, one dark haired and the other with a shaved head ["Batfamily: Love Hurts"] , were arguing in the corner. An 8 year old blonde was standing on the table, wielding a broom above her head.

"Timmy!" The little girl hopped down from the table and ran over to hug Timothy. The end of the broom almost poked Barbara in the eye. Stephanie looked up at her with a missing teeth smile. "You found him!"

"Let me guess. You're . . ."

"Stephie!"

The older boys came over to the commotion. Also, a shy 8 year old Asian girl crept out from under the table with a frying pan.

"And you all are . . . what? Cassie, Dicky, and Jaysie?"

"I'm the Red Devil!"

"He's just Jason," Dicky said.

"You're pretty," Jason blurted out to Barbara.

"Shut up," Dicky told him, blushing. "You're Barbara, right? We were poisoned by the Mad Hatter. Now we're kid size and our brains our getting fuzzier the longer we're like this. You have to help!"

Barbara sighed. She noticed the tea set on the table, but felt that there may have been an airborne toxin at work. A tingling in her body. And just as she was about to speak up, Stephie shouted once more.

"There are monsters out there!"

To Be Continued . . .

* * *

_Barbara Yvonne Gordon_

_Codename: Batgirl_

_Equipment: Grappling Gun, Batarangs, Utility Belt_

_Birthday: June 7th, 26 Years Old_

_Height: 5'7_

* * *

_Thank you for reading. Please review and subscribe, question or comment. Any feedback helps me write. _


	2. Issue 8: White Rabbit

Barbara Gordon went into the kitchen at Wayne Manor to prepare a meal for her Batfamily comrades who were turned into children by Mad Hatter. She still couldn't believe it. And on top of that, the fridge was stocked to the brim with pre-packaged protein filled meals of grilled chicken and vegetables. Alfred must've kept his stash elsewhere from prying hands. Smart as the only other thing was a bag of Chinese leftovers with "Do not take under penalty of death" written in Jason's handwriting. She warmed up some chicken wings and lo mein and brought them out to the dining table. With only alcohol and health obsessed drinks, the kids would have to suffice with water.

The eight year olds were in their own little world. Stephie was dragging Timothy by the hand as if they were playing house. Timothy was still lazily rubbing at his teary eyes. Cassie held onto the boy's other hand, refusing to let go. Dicky and Jason were arguing at the table while Barbara served the food. She then turned her attention to the Mad Hatter's opened gift box sitting at the end of the table. It was a tea cup with a tea bag inside and a piece of cake on a plate.

"So," she said. "How did this trap get unleashed inside the house?"

Dicky and Jason glared at each other and began yelling. "He wanted to see" "He said it" "was inside!" "Okay!" "Not my" "I didn't!" "No no no!" "Yes you did!"

Barbara thought about whether she should just dispose of it and whatever poison it must be releasing into the air. Or better yet she might bring it down to the lab and synthesize a cure, if Bruce didn't already have one. She packed it all back in the box, when a loud BOOM! rang out from the upper level of the Manor. The kids all braced themselves in fear.

"What was that you were saying about monsters?"

"It's a giant monster with huge teeth," Stephie yelped.

"We went exploring after this happened to us," Dicky explained. "We heard these loud noises coming from upstairs. Like loud steps. And we were still kinda big but shrinking. We almost got close but then we had to run away. None of us really saw it, but it sounded huge."

"I saw it," Stephie insisted proudly.

Jason teased her. "Did not."

"Did too!"

"You ran away first."

"No I didn't!"

The two glared at each other. Barbara reached a hand to her temple, a tick when she was thinking, and noticed something strange. A pimple. It's not that her skin was unblemished, but she hadn't had bad acne since she was a teenager. She reached into her jacket pocket to use her phone as a mirror, only to be tangled up in an extra long sleeve. She took off her jacket startled. She was starting to shrink. By the time she turned 17 she had maxed out her height at 5'7. The potion was operating fast at only a few minutes. She had to counteract.

"C'mon kids, eat up. We've got a mystery to solve."

Barbara was in need of a weapon. She went into the kitchen to assemble an arsenal of knives. The moment hung heavy on her shoulders. She was younger again. A time when she was at a crossroads in her life. High school going on college. Her divorced father dating again. All the weird mental ticks that would cause a young girl to put on a Batman cosplay and run around rooftops fighting crime. Insecure. Panicking. She thought about calling someone to help, but something about her newly teenage mind could do nothing by worry. The kids screaming brought her back to reality.

When she ran out to the dining room, the first thing she saw were the kids running towards her and the kitchen door. Having broken up the door to the hallway, there stood a hulking, over 6 foot rabbit-man. White fur. Bulging muscles. Long, hanging ears. Red eyes. It appeared to be some sasquatch creature, a lean possible metahuman with its arms limp at its side. But it was most certainly supposed to be a rabbit.

Barbara threw a steak knife at it. The rabbit-man dodged with great speed. And it screeched. It pounced forward on all four. Barbara was only concerned with shielding the children behind her. The creature grabbed the box of Mad Hatter's items and fled the room just as urgently. All was quiet for a moment before Timothy started crying.

"What the hell was that?" Jason said.

"You said a bad word," Stephie told him.

Cassie patted Timothy on the head.

Dicky turned to Barbara. "What do we . . . do now?"

Dicky had become flustered and blushed when he saw that Barbara's sweated had slipped, revealing her bare shoulder. She had shrunk again. She felt her glasses go crooked on her face. Her hair was shoulder length again. She must be 12 years old.

"I don't know." Her voice cracked in that 8th grade kind of way. Yup, definitely 12. "I think we should, um . . . follow it? Or go to the Batcave. Yeah. Go to the Batcave sounds like a good idea. I think."

Dicky, 11 years old and just about her height, looked Barbara in the freckles. "I think so too."

The kids packed up on their kitchen utensil weapons. Knives for Babs. A frying pan for Dicky. A broken beer bottle for Jason. A broom for Stephie. A rolling pin for Cassie. And Timothy with a glass of water. They were hesitant to approach the busted down door, slowly inching towards it. That's when Damian Wayne walked into the room. He surveyed the scene of his Batfamily comrades having turned into small children, folded his arms, and he nodded his head. 13 years old, at 5 foot 4 inches tall, Damian was the tallest person in the room.

"This pleases me."

* * *

_Richard John Grayson_

_Codename: Nightwing_

_Equipment: Escrima Sticks_

_Birthday: April 4th, 25 years old_

_Height" 6'0_


End file.
